


Count Me Twice

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-14
Updated: 2006-02-14
Packaged: 2019-01-19 23:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12420804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Valentine's Day isn't just for love; it's for friends too.  Remus and Lily spent Valentine's Day together first year.  Lots of cuteness ensues.





	Count Me Twice

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**Count Me Twice**

_Eighteen, nineteen, twenty..._ Remus counted to himself as he walked. He was not certain exactly why, but at some point he had begun numbering his steps, as he had numbered his days, his months, and his scars. If anyone asked, he would tell them he had lived 2,314 days as a werewolf, endured 81 full moons, and presently consisted of 54 substantial scars (not to mention, one torn soul). No one ever asked. But if they did, Remus would be prepared. 

By February of his first year at Hogwarts, Remus became aware that his penchant for unconsciously counting everything had grown. He counted how many portraits he passed on the way to lunch (17), how many steps on the winding staircase up to the Astronomy Tower (32), and how many pieces of bacon Peter consumed each morning (7, always, without fail, 7). 

When Remus reached the library (116 steps) that particular afternoon, he headed straight towards the back corner where he and Lily often met to do homework. He was surprised to find that she was not there waiting, as usual, but settled into his seat all the same and pulled out his half-finished Potions homework. Nearly half an hour later, a frenzied-looking Lily collapsed into the seat next to Remus. His eyebrows arched over his honey colored eyes as he took in her appearance. 

"Lily? Are you alright?" He asked, trying to suppress a chuckle. She seemed to be in one of those moods where he ought to tread lightly. 

"Yes, of course, why wouldn't I be?" Lily asked fiercely, yanking her books and parchment from her bag with a bit more force than was absolutely necessary. She looked at Remus pointedly, forbidding him to go on or point out the painfully obvious circumstances of her arrival. 

"Erm, no reason," Remus said, tugging nervously at the neck of his jumper, once, twice, three times. 

"Good," Lily said, visibly relaxing. "Shall we start on this Charms project then?" Remus nodded and pushed his Potions parchment to the side. Lily scooted her chair closer to Remus' and made quite an effort to concentrate on their work. They worked like this for another 15 minutes before Remus was forced to mention it again. 

"Lily, isn't there anything-" 

"No!" She snapped. Her voice softened slightly, "No, there isn't, believe me I've tried. They just keep coming." She sounded defeated, almost on the verge of tears.

 "Lily-" Remus tried again, more tenderly than before. He thought, perhaps, that he ought to reach out and take her hand. He thought, perhaps, that would make her feel better. But Remus had never been that bold, so he simply said her name as sweetly as he could manage. "Lily." 

She looked at him, her eyes full of embarrassment and awkwardness and now, tears, before looking away. 

"Valentine's Day was never this difficult when I was a Muggle," she murmured. Remus' eyes widened in surprise. Of course! How could he have forgotten? 

"Lily, are all these..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say. Now that he thought about it, they were awfully... _pink._ They were more than a dozen notes, folded as hearts, airplanes, birds, or little triangles, which were hovering around Lily's head, occasionally slamming into her ears or getting tangled in her red curls, begging to be read. "Are these from...potential suitors?" Lily blushed ferociously. 

"Well, more or less" she answered, swatting away a rather insistent glitter covered note.

 "They're not all from James are they?" Remus asked suspiciously. One or two appeared to be written in James' handwriting, now that he looked at them. 

"Not all of them," Lily answered miserably.

 "And is that..." Remus trailed off again. 

"A tiny cupid retching slugs into a gilded bucket?" Remus could only smile. "Why yes, it is actually. It wouldn't stop sprinkling me with pink glitter so I had to hex it." A slightly proud smile played across Lily's face before she laid her head in her hands on top of the table. "Why me Remus?" She moaned. He reached out and patted her shoulder awkwardly. 

"I bet loads of girls would be happy to have this many admirers," he pointed out, hoping it was somewhat true. He did not actually _know_ loads of girls, but it seemed like a good thing to say. She lifted her head slightly to give him a _look._ He decided to try another tactic. "Do you want to go down to the kitchens and get some ice cream?" Her head shot up. 

"Ice cream?" 

"Yes, ice cream, and then you can me what all you've tried to do to these indestructible notes, alright?" Lily nodded and shoved her parchment and books into her bag. They walked in silence out of the library followed by Lily's pink and slightly perfumed entourage. Remus cleared his throat, a bit awkwardly. 

"I know a shortcut, that is, if you'd like to go without everyone gawking and whatnot." Lily smiled at him warmly. 

"That would be nice." He pushed aside a moth-eaten tapestry, revealing a winding tunnel, dimly lit with flickering, floating candles. 

"Wow, I didn't even know this existed," Lily murmured in awe. 

"We do a lot of exploring I guess," he shrugged, tugging again at the neck of his jumper, slightly embarrassed. 

"You and James and Sirius?" Lily asked, looking over at him. 

"And Peter, yeah," Remus added, feeling a little uneasy. He knew Lily was not too fond of his friends. "They're really nice guys actually. It's just that some people-like Snape- they just-" He stammered, almost apologetically. 

"Remus," Lily interrupted him, "it's ok." 

"It is is?" 

"Yes, it is." She gave him an encouraging smile and reached over, and very gingerly, took him by the hand. 

"Oh," Remus croaked. No one had ever held his hand before and though he liked the feel of her small, soft hand in his, he was all too aware of what would happen if James saw them like this. Somehow though, looking down on the crown of her curly head surrounded by a horde of sparkling love notes, Remus knew that it was not wrong. It may have been Valentine's Day and they may have been alone in a dim secret tunnel, but all she needed was his friendship. 

"We're just outside the painting of the pear now," Remus spoke, breaking the easy silence. He pushed through a wooden panel into the bright light of the corridor outside of the kitchen and her hand slipped out of his. 

A half hour later they were still sitting around one of the large tables, bowls of half-melted ice cream in front of them, trying to vanquish Lily's valentines. Several of them had finally disappeared and they'd been able to burn a few of the others. However, there was still a good 6 or so floating around. Not surprisingly, the most resilient of valentines were from James. Remus promised, if nothing else worked, that he would talk to James and make him get rid of them. Lily gave a little sigh and rested her chin on Remus' shoulder.

 "More ice cream?" Remus offered. Though the elves had already brought them three bowls apiece, he felt like he ought to say something. 

"Nah," Lily answered back. Her hands, resting on the table in front of them, were entwined, her right hand twisting a small ring with a turtle on it around the pinkie of her left hand. Remus had noticed that she often twisted the ring round and round when she thought he wasn't paying attention.

 "Why do you do that?" He asked, aware that his voice was probably coming out too loud, since her head was so close to his. To make up for it, he reached out and tugged gently, playfully, on her pinkie finger.

 "Oh sorry," she mumbled, bashfully putting her hands under the table, and taking her head off his shoulder. 

"No no! That's not what I meant," Remus said, grabbing her hands. "Please don't stop, I just-- Well, you do it all the time and I just..." He trailed off, hoping he had not ruined anything.

 "Oh." Lily said, blushing slightly. She had not realized she did it so often. "It's just a little trinket. It's from my sister, actually."

 "Your sister? But I thought you hated your sister?" Remus asked, surprised. 

"No..." Lily began quietly, " _she_ hates _me_. But she's my sister, I could never hate her."

 "Oh. I don't have any siblings," Remus explained. "So she gave it to you?" 

"Yes, when we were really little. When it used to fit my middle finger," Lily laughed. "I got the chicken pox when I was 5 and had to miss our grammar school's fieldtrip to the zoo. Petunia, my sister, she spent all her lunch money on this 'souvenir' for me. I really liked turtles when I was little," Lily explained, slightly embarrassed. "I wear it everyday. I'm not sure why. Like I said, she doesn't even _like_ me. I'm her freak of a baby sister. But I guess I just wear it," she gave it one last twist, "to remember a time when she did like me. And I guess it gives me a little hope that maybe she'll like me again someday. I'm sorry. I'll stop babbling now. You probably think I'm being ridiculous. I am, aren't I? Normal people don't have little obsessions like this. I'm sure you don't." Remus had to keep from laughing. He was hardly what you'd call _normal_. For a moment, he wanted to tell Lily everything, all about his being werewolf, just to make her feel better. But he knew she'd never talk to him again. He settled for telling her about his other abnormality instead. 

"Actually...I have this _thing_...I count," Remus said sheepishly.

 "You count? No offense Remus, but we all count.  Mastered it years ago actually.  Some of us even _read._ Maybe it's something you can aspire to," Lily teased. 

"Just listen," Remus insisted, "I count everything. Everything, Lily. Our shortcut here took 229 steps, that's 96 less than if we'd gone through the corridors. There were 74 candles lighting the way and three portraits of the same damsel in distress. We're surrounded by 12 house elves right now and you've blinked 8 times in the last 30 seconds." Lily laughed.

 "Wow, you weren't joking, were you? But why do you do it?" She looked up at him, half-admiring and half-mocking. 

"I guess I just like the order, knowing exactly how many of everything. It makes me less afraid of what I don't know." 

"I see," Lily said, putting her head back on his shoulder.

 "Should we head back up to the Tower?" Remus asked after a moment, wondering if his friends had noticed his extended absence. 

"Yeah, I think we better. I told the other girls that I would take part in a chocolate eating, butterbeer drinking, candy heart devouring, Valentine's Day binge fest," Lily said, rolling her eyes. They both got to their feet and, thanking the elves, headed out of the kitchen. She did not wait, this time, till they were in the secret passageway to take his hand. They walked this way until they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady, where they wordlessly disengaged from each other. At the bottom of the steps up to the girls' dormitory, Lily stopped. 

"Remus," she said, looking up at him very gravely, "thank you." 

"For what?" He asked, a little bewildered. 

"For being my valentine," she said, in a voice barely above a whisper. A blush flew into Remus' face. 

"I, uh, it, um," he stammered. Lily giggled slightly. 

"Shhhh," she murmured. "Do me a favor?"

"Uh, yeah," he answered, scratching his head uncomfortably. He had the distinct feeling that she was going to try to kiss him. Or worse, that she was hoping _he_ would kiss _her_.

 "When you number your friends," she reached out and took his hand with a gentle smile, "count me twice." He returned the smile. Now that, he could do. 

 


End file.
